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TEAM MUIRHEAD’S LAUREN GRAY LEADING THE WAY WITH CURLING CHARITY CALENDAR

Posted on 5 December 2018

As Eve Muirhead’s rink prepares for their next tournament at the World Cup Series in America, team mate Lauren Gray has been helping to lead another campaign off the ice, albeit still featuring elite curlers who have participated in a charity calendar.

This year’s Women of Curling Calendar features some of the biggest names in the sport from around the world and Gray is one of 15 athletes who have got involved in order to raise much needed funds for the dozen charities chosen by the individuals participating.

For Gray it was important to be part of a project which donates all proceeds to the charitable causes chosen by each athlete and as Gray appears in the calendar for the month of April as well as on the front cover, she is hopeful that the additional profile will help her charity of choice.

“I chose the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH). Mental health is a topic that is close to my heart and is something that is gaining momentum in the press and I just want to support that and try and get that message out there and into the curling community as well. It is something that needs to be profiled, needs to be talked about and something I am keen to raise funds for,” said Gray.

“They have a lot of services operating in Scotland right now and it requires a lot of investment to run these programmes and I just want to feel that I have played a small part in contributing to that to help them continue, so it is my way of putting something back.

“I have seen Sir Chris Hoy getting involved with SAMH as well, promoting the benefits of getting involved in sport to those with mental health issues in order to boost their wellbeing. That is just one part of the many programmes they are operating and I want to help them raise money for these important projects.”

Gray is the latest British Curling athlete to appear in the charitable calendar, which featured fellow Olympian Kyle Smith last year and prior to that, Gray’s team mate and skip, Eve Muirhead.

“I was asked to do the charity calendar in the summer. Brad Askew did the photo for Kyle Smith last year and his photo was awesome so I definitely wanted Brad to do mine as well. I wanted the photo taken in Loch Lomond because that is close to where I am originally from and Brad suggested to take the photos in Girvan in front of Ailsa Craig, so that is where the concept came from, which I was excited about because it had that curling connection,” she said.

All proceeds from Gray’s calendar sales go to the charity SAMH and there are three ways of purchasing the charity calendars.

“100% of all sales go to the charity and there are three ways of making sure they get those funds from my calendar sales,” said Gray.

In between competitions, she has delivered copies to curling rinks at Perth, Murrayfield, The Peak in Stirling, The Waterfront at Greenock and Curl Aberdeen where purchases can be made.

In addition, she has also set up a designated email address for the calendar purchases.

“Using that email address or making contact through any of the Team Muirhead social media channels means I can post calendars directly and personalised Christmas messages or autographs from all of the team are also available,” she added.

Calendars cost £20 each and can be purchased from: laurenwocc@outlook.com

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